I get it, building a coaching business is hard work. Sooner or later you realise that it’s going to take a lot more than just passion to be successful. And when you start asking around, you quickly realise that not a lot of people are actually making any money from it.

In fact, according to the International Coach Federation, half of the professional coaches make less than $25,000 a year.

Meaning it really is tough to live off just doing one-to-one coaching. To be honest, I don’t know anyone who’s making a killing at being a life coach alone, without having to do some sort of side consulting or corporate gig, running retreats or workshops to make ends meet.

That was until I came across Michael Serwa, self-proclaimed “Life Coach for the Elite”, who appears to be the highest paid one-to-one life coach in the UK, and is on his way to be making a seven figure income.

With a drive to be the absolute best at what he does, his attitude can be pretty polarising, but the good news is that Michael doesn’t actually care. And that’s what people either love or hate about him.

His clients vary from 20s to 60s but they all have something in common: they have a certain attitude towards what’s possible in life and how they want to leave a legacy.

But it wasn’t always like this way for Michael.

Michael came to the UK on a bus at 22 speaking very little English with barely any money but an absolute drive to succeed. In fact, I first met Michael in 2012 at a Tim Ferriss event in London and bumped into him again a few weeks later at an event where we were both speaking at. He was just starting out and barely charging £20 an hour.

I’ve followed his rise to success over the last five years and we talked about getting him on the show for a while, but I finally caught up with him!

In today’s episode, you’ll hear:

Why Michael believes attitude is everything.

How Michael’s passion to be the best jazz musician took him 8 hours across Poland aged 17 to track down the best trumpet player in the world to confirm if it was possible.

The attitude that got him the fastest promotion in Zara UK history without previous retail experience, after moving to London with barely any English.

How running a Meetup Group on spirituality led to launching his business for a second (and successful time) to become the UK’s highest paid life coach.

What he wants to tell people who want to become life coaches because they want more freedom.

If you’re interesting in finding out what it takes to build a successful business doing what you love listen to Episode #60 with Michael Serwa.

STAND OUT SNIPPETS:

ON FAILURE

“My trumpet professor stood up and said that wasn’t good enough. And I just feel like I’m about to f**king cry. But I’m not crying in front of those dudes. I left the room, went to toilet and just cried like a f**king baby. There is this soft side to me. Yeah I’m going to f**king admit it, fine. So I cried but immediately I went into solution making mode.”

“I felt like someone I really f**king loved left me. I felt broken but I believed that it happened for a reason.”

“I’m not interested in fine, I wanted to be the best. I didn’t want to play the game I knew I couldn’t win.”

“I discovered coaching in 2010, I had a retail job at the time. I was £5k in debt. I was in no position, I thought to start a business. I started one anyway. It just didn’t work out. It wasn’t due to lack of passion. I didn’t push it hard enough.”

ON MAKING SHIT HAPPEN

“The simplicity that became a big part of my brand was a product of the necessity. I didn’t know how to build a more complex website. So I built a simple website and I just f**king went for it. £20 coaching - anyone on anything.”

“Our environment determines our performance. We become our environment... I was surrounded by these people and most of them were more successful than me at the time but I had something they didn’t have. I had a f**king attitude.”

“I really f**king struggled with it but I thought right, let’s do it… It’s not like I didn’t have experience, I just didn’t have the balls.” (On charging more for his session)

ON WHAT OTHERS THINK OF US

“I haven’t met anyone in their twenties who isn’t at least partially concerned with what other people think of them... It’s not like I’m trying to say I don’t give a f**k what people think of me. Of course I do. When I say don’t care what other people think of you, what I mean by that is: don’t care to the point that you would stop yourself from doing what you think you should do.”

“I don’t think I have a superior raw coaching talent. I don’t link the fact that I’m the highest paid coach in the UK with the fact that I’m necessarily a so much better coach than you… One of the things I’ve done, I paced myself. The timing was perfect. I didn’t get a professional certification... I didn’t have the confidence to ask for £100 per session, nor was anyone willing to pay so I started at £20. In five and a half years I went from a coach charging £20 per session, which would be the lowest paid coach in the UK to the highest paid. How do you do that? You give it time, you pace yourself. I had a full coaching practice from day one and I’ve never been below 20 clients.”

“After 1,000 initial consultations followed by 4,000 coaching hours, I don’t care who you are, you can sit confidently in front of someone and tell them what you can do for them. And that is something that can only come with time and experience.”